Lightning Gems Game Page

If matching up precious gems in the midst of a thunderstorm appeals to you, then it’s your lucky day. Well, maybe that’s a pretty small demographic. Still, this game is pretty much summed up in the name.

With a backdrop of thunder, a perhaps unhealthy dose of lightning, and lots of jewels on tap, it’s a very attractive game, and the sounds are sure to get your attention.

Lightning Gems Slot Layout

This game from developer NextGen has a fixed bet of 15 coins which activates 10 paylines, although the number is effectively double that because wins pay in either direction, right to left, or left to right.

The layout is a common one, with five reels showing three visible symbols each.

The symbol inventory begins with the wild symbol which is a golden amulet. Then you’ll find a scatter pay symbol which is a glowing crystal. After that, the rest of the symbols are various kinds of gemstones, starting with the next most valuable, a ruby.

Wild Symbols, and their features

The principal feature of this game involves the wild symbols, which in addition to being on the reels, can also appear in a couple of extra ways.

Wilds can be nudged into view which always creates an entire reel of them, or they can also be transformed from other symbols which happens one by one.

This easy availability of wild symbols coupled with the ability to line up a winning combination in either direction means that this slot has a very high win percentage. That is, a very large percentage of your spins will result in some winning combination. And for me, that is actually the problem.

Too Many Wilds?

When a slot has a high win percentage, it means that the average win must be fairly low to compensate for the luxury of all those payouts. And that’s exactly what happens here.

For example, in the next screenshot, I was playing 30 cents per spin and landed a very impressive looking screen full of wilds.

Yet the payout of $2.36 isn’t very impressive. Here’s another example with a win of $4.00.

The Bonus Round – 10 Free Spins

Catch three or more of the glowing crystals, and you’ll get a scatter pay plus activate ten free spins.

Before the spins start, you get even more wilds added. Ten more wilds are added to each reel, for a total of 50 extra in all. Here are the wilds being added…

But even with all these wilds, given the small payouts for winning combinations even ten spins doesn’t amount to much excitement. Here’s a typical finish.

My Bottom Line

This is a very attractive game. The thunder and lightning sound effects along with the animated glittering jewels provide a compelling backdrop for the game. But for me, the overall game just doesn’t work. While your money may last a long time, there’s not much to get excited about.

Lightning Gems is available at the following online casinos in New Jersey.